Cloisters and Cat Beds

I've happily made the transition from "downstate" to "upstate" (not a native of either), but I still do miss the Cloisters.

While they have a great collection of medieval art inside, it's really the outside spaces that I love - the gardens, colonades, and the views of the NJ Palisades ("New Jersey - Best from a Distance" sorry Dan!). Maybe a road trip this fall?

And now, a short review of knitted cat beds...This one is from Stitch & Bitch, and is the clear favorite. It has these nice padded sides. I used scraps of batting left over from quilting; after the first trip through the wash, I needed to add more scraps, but there's no shortage of batting scraps here. It's made in a soft acrylic, I think it's called something like Angel Soft, or something that sounds like toilet paper and comes from A.C. Moore. Anyway, the cats love this yarn. I had some of two colors here, and decided to make some random stripes.The second cat bed is from A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting. It's felted, and I don't really see myself making a felted cat bed again - that's a lot of wool for something that gets matted with fur, if they use it. If they don't use it, then it's a rather odd throw rug. Cat Bordhi recommends drying it with an inflated inner tube, to keep the shape. Not having any inner tubes around, I wasn't able to do that, which may explain the near total failure of the sides to stand up. If the cat will get in it, I can pull up the sides and make it be a proper cat bed. And, of course, they don't generally like things they're lying on being tugged at. So, not such a resounding success. But Zeno here is a good sport about it.